Gospel musicians hold peace conference

The United Gospel Musicians Association has held a peace conference to propagate the gospel of peace towards the December 2008 elections.

The conference was aimed at bringing together, pastors, gospel musicians, political parties and other groups and organizations to reiterate the need for peace now, during and after the December 7 elections. The conference was under the theme, “Standing in the Gap for the Nation”.

Addressing the function last Saturday at the church of Pentecost, Thomas Wyatt Temple in Accra Newtown, the Chairman of UGMA, Sampson Annor, noted that peace is like any other recipe which needs to be harped on consistently because without it there would be conflict always.

He added, “There is no place like Ghana and irrespective of our ideology, we are still one people with one mission of propagating peace therefore, Ghanaians must make every effort to ensure that peace prevails in this election.”

Mr. Annor continued, “We must show maturity when promoting peace and not to allow politics to divide us because our conscience will not forgive us if we allow this year’s elections to ruin our lives.”

Delivering the keynote address at the occasion, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, who is the MP for Ayawaso, Sheikh I. C. Quaye, pointed out that the prevalence of peace in the nation would depend on an individual.

“God is a God of justice and individually we have a covenant with Him and so if we are able to keep it, He will ensure that peace remains in the country. If we don”t do anything to infringe on other people’s rights there would be peace”, he stated.

He appealed to Ghanaians to stay as united as before and not to create chaos.

There were also solidarity messages from various political parties namely, the NDC, which was represented by Ofosu Ampofo and E.T Mensah; CPP’s aspiring MP for Ayawaso,  Kofi Aidoo; DFP’s aspiring MP for Ayawaso East, Bernard Anuvor and NPP’s Henry, Ayawaso Central.

All the political parties spoke about the need for peaceful elections ad what they intended to do for the Music Industry when elected into power. They also donated GHC100 each for the association, while the NPP donated GHC300.

As part of the programme, the various political parties present were ushered into God’s hands during a prayer session, for peace to exist among them during and after the elections.

They were given 2000 copies of fliers each from the CEO of  Media Sam, also the Chairman of UGMA.

Present to grace the occasion were, Minister of God, the Special Assistant to the IGP, DSP Kofi Sarpong, representatives from the Ghana Bar Association, National Peace Council, GJA, GNAT, MUSIGA, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Nigerian Association of Gospel Musicians, various student bodies and traders’ associations, among others.

Song ministrations for praises and worship by musicians like Collins Nyantakyi, Abaawa Connie, Bernice Ansah, Araba Effe, and some choirs in Ghana, dominated the event.